Dream a Dream, Wander a Wonderland
by LivingUnderARock
Summary: Ludwig could hardly believe his ears. "Wonderland, you said?" The Black Rabbit's eyes widened and he turned to Ludwig. "I'm sorry," he said with a frown, fingering the curl near his forehead. "I think I forgot to mention that bit to you earlier." "You forgot to mention that we were going into a storybook fairy tale?"


**A/N: Helloooo, reader! Welcome to my first real cross-over fic! Woohoo! *cheers* It's not my first fanfiction (my old account won't let me in and I felt like refreshing myself...) so don't go easy on me (if you decide to critique)! I spent a lot of time thinking about this fic, mostly immersing myself in Wikipedia and fantastical stories. One of the books that without a doubt, influenced this story the most is not only Lewis Carroll's and and Hidekaz Himaruya's awesome stuff, but also Frank Beddor's _The Looking Glass Wars_. I use a few words from the trilogy so please excuse me...**

**WELL! I kinda rambled on there. KINDA NOT UNDERSTANDING MYSELF ANYMORE HAHAHA. *sweatdrop* Okay, so for those who went through the trouble of reading this, suffer no more and read on! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Hetalia (although I do hang out with Gilbert, Lovino, and Arthur in my head...), Alice in Wonderland, or The Looking Glass Wars, even though I BADLY BADLY WANT TO. Sadly, life just didn't give me the awesomeness to create them. **

**Chapter One: In Which We Are Introduced to a Strange Land**

Ludwig Beilschmidt hadn't gone very far into the garden when he saw the rabbit. It was a strange sight indeed—a black rabbit darting into the snow-laden bushes when in fact, the whole of the surrounding forest should have been asleep for the winter. Frowning, he briefly considered ignoring it, but honest curiosity burned a little too brightly in his mind. Before he knew it, he was pushing aside branches, spilling more snow onto the white ground.

His boots crunched snow and wood so noisily that he was convinced the rabbit had already escaped into its burrow by now. He couldn't have been more wrong.

At the edge of the dark woods, leaning against a bare tree was a young man of about sixteen—the same age Ludwig was. The young stranger had chocolate brown hair with a tell-tale curl sticking out of his fringe just above his forehead. His brown eyes flashed irritably when he caught sight of Ludwig. He straightened abruptly and brushed powdery snow off his black trench coat.  
"About time you got here," he grunted. "I thought I was going to have to drag you all the way back to the castle when you stopped to gawk at the bushes."

Ludwig was unperturbed. Living amongst the so-called "elites" of German society had taught him to keep a cool visage regardless of what was thrown at him. "Who are you?" he asked shortly. "I don't recall seeing you at the… party."

The pause was unintentional. He himself was unsure as to what exactly to call the little gathering on the patio of his family manor. A "party" was what his mother had called it. To his father, it was a "business meeting". His older brother however, had mockingly dubbed it an "affair for the ancients", seeing as the only ones invited were "men and women so full of themselves that it made them look at least double their age".

"Sorry to disappoint, but I wasn't invited," said the strange young man clad in black, turning on his heel. As he strode off into the cluster of trees that encircled the Beilschmidt manor, Ludwig stared on after him, uncomprehending. Noticing this, the stranger swivelled around and scowled. "What are you doing this time? Get a move on! We're late, you know?"

"Late for what?"

The stranger rolled his eyes. "I don't get paid enough for this," he grumbled. "I don't suppose you want the full-blown explanation now, do you?"

"It would be better to hear one rather than follow a suspicious character into the seclusion of a forest, wouldn't it?" Ludwig replied, feeling the need to be frank.

The stranger made a noise between a derisive snort and an exasperated groan. "Leave it to the Queen to be interested in these kinds of things." He eyed Ludwig for a moment, perhaps challenging him to defend himself against being called a "thing". Naturally, Ludwig appeared unaffected. The stranger relented.

"I'm called the Black Rabbit," he said. "My friends just call me Black, though. We're heading for the castle of the Red Queen, ruler of the Empire of Hearts. You are going to present yourself to her and the King for reasons I don't know or care enough to know." When Ludwig tried for a question, Black's hand forestalled him. "Before you ask something else, I suggest that you follow me, do as I say, and see for yourself. Got that?"

Ludwig narrowed his eyes, only adding the queer name to all the reasons to distrust the stranger. "Why should I do that?"

"Why?" repeated Black, meeting the German's gaze. "Does there need to be a reason?"

"Obviously. You might be some assassin sent to kill me. There have been plenty of attempts on my life in the past. How would I know to trust you?"

Black sighed and muttered something incomprehensible. "Thing is, kid, if I wanted to kill you, I already would have."

"Oh?" It was one thing to call him a "thing" or a "kid", but to underestimate him? Ludwig was a hair's breadth away from silencing the brat who was the exact same age he was and yet dared to call him a "kid". "I have plenty of experience dealing with mercenaries such as you."  
The Beilschmidt house had many allies amongst the upper echelons of society—it was a trademark of their bloodline and fealty. Likewise, there were many who wished to usurp their power and strip them of their name and rank. Being the second son to this domain made Ludwig a target at times when he was younger, but nowadays the incidents were increasing steadily, as with the rumours that his older brother was proving an incompetent heir.

But never once had any of these assassination or kidnap attempts on Ludwig been made public. One reason would be the family image. The other would be that Ludwig simply dispatched the perpetrators himself and silenced them with his own hands after extracting information on their employers. The rest of the family knew better than to stray from his lead.

Black cocked an eyebrow but raised both hands in a sign of surrender. "I got it," he said. "I don't particularly need you to trust me, but I need you to trust in what I say."

Ludwig's hand lowered to his side, his wrist ready to flick and reveal a concealed dagger in his sleeve at any second. He made the gesture casual and gave Black Rabbit an affirmative nod. "I'm listening," he said, not exactly lying, but not telling the complete truth either.

"I would appreciate the lack of murderous intent," said Black with a somber expression as he lowered his hands. He allowed a brief smile at Ludwig's obvious surprise. "I have enough experience battle-wise to know when someone intends to kill me. It's become something of an irritating habit, really."  
He paused. "It would be nicer to be civil, wouldn't it?"  
Ludwig narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You didn't seem very keen on civilities earlier."

"True," admitted Black. "But I learn quickly and what I've learned so far is that now is not the time to be picking useless fights."  
Ludwig studied Black's face for a few seconds before deciding that the latter was most likely telling the truth. It did not mean that he trusted the stranger—it just meant that he was almost indefinitely without malicious intent. He gave his wrist a slight shake to push the dagger back into its leather sheath.

"What do you want to tell me?" he asked.

"More of 'where I want to take you', really," said Black. When Ludwig tensed up once again, Black raised a hand. "I said _civilities_, didn't I? Just checking to see if I got that right. Sometimes, I don't pay enough attention to what I say."

Ludwig answered Black's quip with a low growl.

"Alright, alright," sighed Black. "I was serious about earlier. About taking you to the Queen of the Empire of Hearts."

"That's rubbish," snapped Ludwig. "There's no such thing as the Empire of Hearts. I've taken history lessons for years and none of my tutors have ever said anything about it."

"I'm at the limit of my patience here," warned Black. He closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath to calm his temper. When he had collected himself, he huffed, "_This_ is why they should never trust me with this kind of thing." He met Ludwig's gaze evenly. "Obviously, I'm no delegate, but I'm no criminal either. It's not worth much, but you have my word that I won't pull any dirty tricks on you."

Ludwig hesitated, though for what reason he was unsure. "You still haven't proven the existence of this… empire to me yet," he said slowly.

"I'll do better than prove it to you," replied Black, his eyes revealing his steadfast determination to a perceptive Ludwig. "I'll show it to you."

Ludwig was certain that following the so-called Black Rabbit would lead to some sort of demise sooner or later. Yet he was also certain that Black was incapable of lying. Being around cunning adults with sly tongues, Ludwig had grown used to the tell-tale signs of subterfuge being furtively carried out around him. Sharp as he was, he was able to corner the traitors and cut them off the family coattails.

Right now, as he subjected Black to intense scrutiny, he could not find a trace of dishonesty in either his words or his stance. Ludwig felt his heart soften a little. Being a commoner must be difficult at times, Ludwig decided. Making up imaginary, benevolent empires must be a side-effect of those hardships. Who was he to shatter this young man's dreams?  
In the end, the reason why Ludwig had followed the Black Rabbit was not out of curiosity or trust. He was wiser than that and held rules in high esteem.

That reason was, simply put, sympathy for the less fortunate.

* * *

They journeyed deeper and deeper into the forest. A silence had descended upon them long ago, made quieter by the sleeping wood. This lull gave Ludwig several opportunities to think about Black's possible, dire situation in life. He wondered how it must be like to raise a family in such conditions (he had imagined a family of ten amidst putrid squalor—needless to say, it was the overactive imagination of a naïve prince who had lived in comfort for the past sixteen years of his existence).

At this point, Ludwig realised that Black's silence might be resulting from his embarrassment as a lower-class citizen. He also thought that thinking deeply about Black's family might be rude. So to keep his thoughts from wandering where they shouldn't, he allowed them to settle on his surroundings.

Unfortunately, the forest, a medley of grey, black, and white with the omnipresent evergreen, wasn't much to look at. The sunlight, made soft by wispy cloud cover, cast shifting shadows onto the crisp white snow they trudged upon. In short, there was absolutely nothing of interest around him. In other words, everything was utterly _boring_.

Finally, after about five minutes of trekking through unremarkable terrain, Black came to a stop in front of an ordinary-looking oak tree. He disappeared behind it for a second or two before calling Ludwig over. Following Black's call, he stepped over and around the tree's gnarled roots until he reached his companion's side. There, he saw a gaping hole at the base of the tree, nestled between two bulging roots, large enough for a grown man to enter.

He supposed that this hole must have been the "empire" when Black tapped his foot impatiently. "Well?" he said, eyeing Ludwig expectantly. "Go!"

"Go… what?"

"Jump," Black replied simply.

"_Jump?_" Ludwig repeated, disbelief evident on his face.

"Yes. _Jump,_" said Black matter-of-factly. "Jump, hop, skip, do whatever you want. It doesn't actually matter as long as you get in the hole."

Ludwig stopped to think. It wasn't that he hadn't been expecting this. Something like an "empire" equated to "secret haven" to him when he considered that Black was a young man in need. It wasn't unlikely that this hole led to some undiscovered wonder that a lonely Black wished to share with someone his age. Thinking of that, Ludwig felt his heart once again warm for the unfortunate young man. He found himself incapable of refuting the order, despite the fact that some gut feeling deep inside of him was warning him otherwise.

He jumped into the hole.

The first thing Ludwig registered was not the firmness of solid ground, but the feeling of tumbling through the darkness of an endless pit. He was unable to scream or yell as the wind tore his breath away. He had the time of course to regret not using a stick to gauge how deep the hole was before he had jumped into it. Of course, he would have time for that later, assuming that he didn't smash into cold, hard permafrost in the next five seconds. But he just kept freefalling.

The painful squeezing in his gut made him want to curl up but at this speed, it was impossible. The Black Rabbit chose this very convenient moment to materialize next to Ludwig. "Relax!" he yelled through the roaring wind. "It'll only take a minute or two!"

The German youth could only nod. No sense throwing insults _now_, while he was falling headlong at unimaginable speeds through a seemingly impenetrable darkness. The inky blackness itself was a cause for many fears. It stole his sense of time and direction: he was beginning to doubt which way was left, right, up, or, down. He also would have forgotten that he was falling if it weren't for the wind lashing at him like an unrestrained beast. If none of that could shake him, then he was as good as dead. Waiting for the end seemed the only choice at hand.

It was a speck at first, then a sizeable dot that continued to expand until Ludwig recognised it for what it was: a floor—the end. The sight of it twisted his insides with the unmistakable sensation of vertigo. He closed his eyes and prayed to whatever heavenly forces that his brother would come home soon—Mother and Father were going to need an heir, and fast.

Just when he was imagining himself flattened like a pancake, the wind abruptly and he felt an enormous tug on his entire body, like invisible bonds at their limit. He opened one of his eyes a fraction and saw that he was floating—no, _hanging_ suspended a few inches above a tiled black and white floor that resembled a huge chessboard. The moment he knew that, however, whatever magical forces that were holding him back suddenly disappeared and he was dropped onto the floor. Hard.

Suppressing a groan, he forced himself upright. Once on his feet, he surveyed the room. It was small, round, and plain with no furnishings in sight except for a single door five paces away from the centre of the room where Ludwig stood. Without warning, Black appeared at his side.

Ludwig felt some surprise, but was otherwise mentally and physically drained from the threat of imminent death he had faced mere minutes before.

Meanwhile, Black was oblivious to his companion's exhaustion and continued to proceed onward. He stretched like one who had just woken up. "That was good," he sighed contentedly as he lowered his arms. "It's been a while since I got into Wonderland through that entrance."

Ludwig could hardly believe his ears. "_Wonderland_, you said?"

The Black Rabbit's eyes widened and he turned to Ludwig. "I'm sorry," he said with a frown, fingering the curl near his forehead. "I think I forgot to mention that bit to you earlier."

"You forgot to mention that we were going into a storybook fairy tale?" said the German flatly, masking his true feelings as usual. In truth, his mind was racing.

"Oh, you mean _that_ book," said Black. "The one by, what was it, Carroll about thirty years ago?"

"What other book could I be talking about?"

_ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ had been his older brother's favourite book—and that was saying something, considering the fact that his brother secretly detested books and reading them. Although he would never admit it to anyone, he loved that particular book more than anything and on more than one occasion, Ludwig would catch him furtively leafing through its pages in his room or deep in the garden where he thought no servant or family member would catch him. These garden escapades would soon prove to become the very thing that planted the seeds that would lead several in respected German society to doubt his capabilities.

Some months ago, his brother had begun spending more and more time in the garden, —as much as four hours would pass before he came out of the garden in the early morning when he only used to take two, and Ludwig had always spied on him from afar whenever he did. His older brother always looked tired, but whatever on earth it was that could exhaust him was an idea foreign to Ludwig—his brother had always been energetic beyond belief and sometimes, tolerance. Despite that, his brother always continued on to his lessons and went without fail to every diplomatic meeting with their father in order to prepare for the day when he completely inherited the Beilschmidt family affairs.

And of course there were those cryptic words he had told Ludwig one day after coming home late one night from one of those meetings.

_You'll see __Wonderland real soon too,_ he had said with a tired smile and a hand upon Ludwig's shoulder. After that, he had disappeared into his room, leaving behind his very confused brother staring after him.

Was all this somehow connected to his brother's frequent excursions into the garden? As much as he admired his brother, there were times when he worried about him.

"Is the Empire of Hearts you will take me to in Wonderland?" asked Ludwig abruptly, making Black start and glare at him before finally replying.

"It is," he said. "Why?"

"No reason."

The pieces were beginning to fit inside Ludwig's head. His brother's trips and where Black was leading him were most likely the same place—both were under the same alias of Wonderland. His brother had mentioned that he would be "seeing Wonderland soon", which meant that this visit was most likely premeditated. The "Empire of Hearts" and "Red Queen" were probably amongst the other aliases they had used in order to keep this place, this "Wonderland" a secret.

"You look undecided," said Black with a slight grin. "What do you want to do?"

Ludwig turned to him and said, "Take me to Wonderland."

Black's grin widened. "Good," he said, tracing a circle nonchalantly in the air. "Now I just want you to appreciate how important it is that you got in here with me."

Then something extraordinary happened. Following the path his finger had traced, a red, faintly glowing line materialised. When both ends met, the entire circle glowed a sort of vivid ruby red and his hand disappeared within the circumference of the floating red circle. When he pulled it out, he was holding a ring of keys. He snapped his fingers. At the sound, the circle of red light faded into nonexistence. He strode over to the door, beckoning a dumbfounded Ludwig to follow suit, and inserted one of the keys into the keyhole.

Turning it, he met some difficulty and grunted as he struggled to turn it all the way. Deciding that it wasn't the right key, Black switched to a somewhat identical-looking key while Ludwig watched in bewildered astonishment.

The German youth couldn't understand a fraction of what had just occurred. Scientifically speaking, it was impossible to pull something out of nothing, but strictly speaking, it wasn't even possible to create light without a light source of some sort in the first place. It was only at this point that it came to his mind that he had actually survived a five-minute free-fall about ten minutes ago. Had it been the shock of the moment which prevented him to think about it? In all honesty, many things were occurring that were beyond explanation.

Naturally, this was when the door decided to start shrinking. Black cursed under his breath and began to mutter to himself. "Knew it had to be… can't believe… Argh, that damn Joker!"

"Joker?" Ludwig's forehead was creased with worry, but his mind was, as usual, racing far ahead. He assumed that this 'Joker' was a known troublemaker that made rare but notable appearances, judging from Black's spontaneous yet seemingly natural reaction. He and Black might have known each other personally but it was unknown to Ludwig whether they were enemies or friends.

Black grimaced as the door shrunk to the size of a twelve year old. "Scum of Wonderland," he spat. "Can't do a single good thing and only causes everybody trouble and pain. He tried to unseat the Red Queen about thirty or forty years ago, but we stopped him in time. Now he just likes getting on peoples' nerves."

"Sounds like quite the nuisance," Ludwig commented, his mind now going blank. He was too confused to even try explaining the shrinking door anymore. Just what sort of place did his brother vanish to everyday?

"He's more than a nuisance," growled Black. "He's—" He stopped mid-sentence when the door shrank just above his elbows. He cursed again. "If this door seals up, we have to go all the way to Vienna for the nearest entrance! Just think how much money, time, and energy I'm going to have to waste for that!"

Ludwig was frowning. He was not in a hurry to leave the vicinity of his home for Austria. "Earlier," he said slowly, "you made those keys appear out of nothing. Don't you have any other magic tricks you can spare?"

Black shook his head. "If I did, I would've done so by now," he said ruefully. "This is either a Defence or Seal type of magic, and a high level one at that. If it had been any lower, it wouldn't have been able to seal this old entrance."

The door was now about the size of a toddler. Ludwig felt his heart sink. If he couldn't pass through this door, he would have to go all the way to a different country to get to his brother's Wonderland. But he didn't have the time, the resources, or his parents' permission to do so. He doubted that they would give any of them.

He considered barrelling into the door before it became too small, but he knew that Black's harsh sarcasm wasn't be the only thing that was keeping him from doing so. Something deeply rooted within him was warning him of the impossibility of his plan to force his way through. At the same time, a new idea gave him a strange sort of confidence that it would work.

"Can I try something?" he asked Black.

"Well, you can but I don't think you can change anything," said Black with a resigned expression as he stepped aside. "It would be better if we head back now and get ready to leave for Vienna."

"Wait."

Rushing forward, Ludwig grabbed the doorknob and immediately felt a cold, tingling sensation travel from his gut, up his spine, down his arms, and flow out his fingertips. The door trembled and stopped shrinking altogether. The unfamiliar sensation strengthened and spread throughout his body as the door began to return to its original size. The moment it did so, he pushed against the door. It swung open without the slightest noise of protest.  
Ludwig turned to the Black Rabbit with raised eyebrows. Black snorted. "Beginner's luck," he said, waving the matter away dismissively. But as he pushed the German in order to leave first, the German youth caught a fleeting glimpse of an approving smirk. After Black had gone, the doorway was clear but what Ludwig saw beyond was, he knew, impossible.

An old path lined with trees led off into yet another forest, twisting right about forty yards down. The scenery was filled with all shades of gold, brown, red, and orange—the colours of autumn. The dry leaves crunched under Ludwig's heel.

"Hey!" Black hollered several paces ahead. "Hurry up!"

Ludwig was still trying to process everything he could see, but given everything he had already seen, he figured that he shouldn't be completely surprised. By now, he was thinking less about anything else and more about the possibility that this might all be a dream. His mind was most likely muddled by all the "party" preparations and his worries over his brother. A dream about both was not entirely impossible. He took in a deep breath and held it for three seconds before letting it out. Thinking of everything as a dream made things infinitely simpler. He made up his mind and jogged toward Black.

"I'm here," he said.

"After a million years," said Black dryly. "Come on. We're nearly there."

Following the bend was a stream that gurgled as they jumped across it. Forest animals stole glances at them before disappearing into the foliage. The sky was bright and the air clear. Everything was as it should be… or not.

_Why_, Ludwig thought, _is it fall when it should be winter?_ He couldn't explain it. Then again, there was no need to explain anything in a dream. Before his thoughts could get any further, something stopped him in his tracks.

The forest had cleared out suddenly, the path veering sharply to the left and winding down a rather steep slope. Beyond that however, was a stunning sight.

A collection of cities and villages stretched as far as the eye could see on all sides. At the very centre was a shining palace that commanded the most attention. It was a giant that loomed, dominating the landscape, but at the same time it reached to the sky with finesse, its turrets and towers pointing upward. Red flags with black hearts above black swords whipped around in the wind atop them and the battlements.  
Surrounding it was a rather small circle of large houses and manors, clearly the homes of nobles or those of the higher class. Spreading out in a wide circle was a system of simpler houses clustered into villages with complex but simply structured roadways. The circle extended for several hundreds of kilometres, petering out into vast farmlands and finally into forest. A mountain range ringed the forest all around, effectively trapping but also protecting everything within it. That is, to say…

"The Empire of Hearts," whispered Ludwig. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over it to see Black grinning proudly.

"Welcome," he said, "to the Empire of Hearts, the very heart of Wonderland."

**A/N: PHEW! That's chapter 1 up and done! Chapter 2 is actually in the works right now, but it'll all depend if you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please, please, please review! I appreciate any criticism and if you plan on favoriting and/or alerting, please remember to REVIEW! The future of this story is in thy hands! :D**


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